Strong week for L-S boys track

The Lincoln-Sudbury boys outdoor track team has had a pretty intense previous two weeks.

Carl Jewell

By Carl Jewell Correspondent

The Lincoln-Sudbury boys outdoor track team has had a pretty intense previous two weeks.

On April 25, the Warriors had their toughest dual meet of the season, racing Newton South, their strongest league rivals, and Westford Academy at Westford.

At that meet, the pole vault was postponed due to rain, so at the end of that Wednesday, the score was 70-66 in favor of L-S with the pole vault still to be completed.

It was that following Monday on April 30, where Newton South took first and second, clinching the win against L-S with a score of 74-71. L-S beat Westford solidly, with a score of 92-53.

After the state relays on the 28th of April, the Warriors faced Weston and Bedford at Weston on Wednesday, May 2. L-S won both while shifting up its lineup significantly, defeating Weston 80-65 and Bedford 110-33.

Finally, the last day of competition for the Warriors in this two week span was Saturday, May 5, where the Warriors competed in the morning at the Freshman/Sophomore Invitational and then later that night under the lights at the Weston Twilight Invitational.

Against Newton South, the weather was horrible. It rained throughout the entire meet, keeping all the athletes chilled and wet. Dan Schwartz took second place in the 300 hurdles with a time of 41.3 seconds.

In the mile, Jake Shoemaker fought his way to the front and then held off a Newton South runner to take second and almost catch the winner in a time of four minutes, 37.2 seconds. Next up was the boys 800, where Carl Jewell cruised through 600 meters and kicked it to win in 2:05.4.

In the 200 meter dash, senior Nick Colantuono smoked a 22.5 second 200, finishing well ahead of the field. The next race on the track was the 110 high hurdles, where Greg Yuen won in a time of 16 seconds flat. Bryant Wang took third for L-S, but was disqualified on a controversial call for intentionally grounding the hurdles.

In the open 400, junior Ben Cutting took second overall with a time of 53.3 seconds. Marcus West got a rough start in the 100 meter dash, and was unable to recover, finishing third overall in a time of 11.7 seconds.

In the last individual running event of the day, the two-mile, it seemed as though the meet was extremely close and every point was needed, just like at this meet the previous year. Just like last year, where L-S swept the two-mile, Noah MacNeil and Jimmy Tyrell took first and second against all of Newton South’s best distance runners.

Noah MacNeil hammered from the front most of the way, and Jimmy Tyrell passed several people on the final lap and finish one second behind Noah’s 10:02 winning time. L-S had a solid day in the jumps, with Tommy Howd taking third in the high jump with a leap of 5 feet 6 inches.

Justin Chang took second in the long jump, jumping 19-2, with Greg Yuen taking third with a jump an inch shy of Chang’s. In the javelin, Ben Cutting threw a personal best 143 feet, 4 inches, good for first place, with Roger Nix taking second and Brandon Huntowski taking third, all with strong throws.

Against Weston and Bedford, L-S changed around the lineup, giving people a chance to try different events, as this was one of the weaker meets of the season. Steve Tenure dominated the 300 meter hurdles, running 42.9 seconds for the victory.

Next on the track, Jake Shoemaker cruised the first half of the mile until pulling away from a Bedford runner for the victory in 4:36.5.

In the 800, MacNeil hung on well in a fast-paced raced getting a personal best in 2:05.8, good for third place. Marcus West ran the 200 meter dash for the first time all season, winning in a quick time of 23.1 seconds, with Howd taking second in a time of 24.5 seconds.

In the 110 high hurdles, Bryant Wang ran away with it in a time of 15.7 seconds, with Kyle Kemp taking third in 17.8 seconds. In the open 400, the race was seemingly loaded with Dan Schwartz, Carl Jewell, and Ben Cutting. Schwartz ran away with it in 52.2 seconds, with Ben Cutting taking second place from the second heat in 53.6 seconds.

In the 100 meter dash, Colantuono moved down to blaze an 11.2, with Greg Yuen finishing .3 seconds behind him. In the two mile, Ben Gossels pressed the pace the whole way, coming away with the win in a solid time of 10:52.7 seconds, with Jeff Bradford and Raj Santhamoorthy taking third and fourth just under 11 minutes. L-S swept the relays, running away with the 4 by 100 and 4 by 400 meter wins.

In the throws, Ross Schultz came up with two big throws in the shot put and discus, heaving 39 feet, 11 inches and 94 feet, 5 inches in each, respectively, walking away with first and second place.

Cutting took third in javelin throw with a throw of 138 feet, 8.5 inches, with Brandon Huntowski heaving a big personal best of 128 feet, 9 inches.

Ian Russell had a personal best vault in the pole vault, clearing 10 feet, 6 inches after missing most of the beginning of the season due to injury. This mark qualifies him for the Class A Championships.

In the triple jump, Schwartz was the lone placer, leaping 39 feet, 2 inches, good for third place. Howd and Will Mepham took first and second in the high jump, both clearing 5 feet, 6 inches.

The following Saturday was a big day for the Warriors.

At the Freshman/Sophomore meet, L-S’ younger athletes got to showcase their skills to the rest of the state against their own age level competition. The most notable results are as follows. In the 100, Matt Sliwkowski took 11th with a time of 12.13 seconds. Mepham took 18th in a time of 57.34 seconds, a personal best. Mepham just missed placing in the high jump, taking seventh with a height of 5-8. Jeff Dykes completed the 800 meter distance in 2:18.43, an outstanding time for a freshman, to take 16th place. In the one mile, Alec Barnes, having missed most of the last few weeks due to injury, came out and ran a very strong 4:52.85, good for 11th place. Chris Halsted took 10th in the 110 high hurdles with a time of 18.36 seconds, and placed 13th in the triple jump with a leap of 35- 3.5.

The 4x400 meter relay of Will Mepham, Jeff Bradford, John Ellersick and Alec Barnes took seventh place overall, running a time of 4:3.03.

That night, the coaches traveled back from the Freshman/Sophomore meet in New Bedford to the Weston Twilight Invitational, where a few of the older competitors were competing under the lights. There were some very solid marks and placing by the Warriors against a high level of competition here.

In the 100 meter dash, West was second in the prelims with a time of 11.17 seconds, and took second in the finals with a time of 11.24 seconds.

In the 400 meter dash, Colantuono had a great stretch run to win the race in the last 5 meters, running a very fast time of 49.77 seconds and beating one of the top 400 runners in the state. In the 800, the officials decided to only run two heats for the 30 plus competitors, thus making the race very crowded and slow. Schwartz fell 450 meters in, ruining his chances of a title, and Jewell came up short in his kick, finishing fourth in a time of 2:2.87.

In the mile, Tyrell, MacNeil, and Linden ran solid races to finish in times of 4:31, 4:37, and 4:43.

Shoemaker ran an outstanding two-mile, cruising through the first mile in 4:50 before out-kicking a Brockton runner for second place to finish in a personal best 9:48.90.

Bryant Wang, sidelined somewhat this season by a hamstring injury, cruised through the prelims with the fastest time of the night in 15.3 seconds, eventually taking third in the finals with a time of 15.51 seconds.

Steve Tenure blew away the other runners in his heat in the 300 meter hurdles, taking third overall with a personal best time of 42.59 seconds. Ian Russell came in seventh in the pole vault, clearing 10-0 for the second time this season.

The Warriors resumed action yesterday against Acton Boxborough and Concord-Carlisle at A-B in their last dual meet of the season.